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Graduate Profile: Rochelle Haley

Article released: Tuesday, 18 August, 2009

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Name: Rochelle Haley
Graduated: Graduated from COFA, UNSW, with a Doctorate in Fine Arts


Artist and COFA PhD graduate Rochelle Haley has returned to Australia briefly to attend the graduation for her Doctorate in Fine Arts. Haley has spent the past four months, out of a year long artists residency, at Rimbun Dahan, a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Rimbun Dahan literally translates to ‘laden bough’ and as well as being a private home for well known architect Hijjas Kasturi and his wife Angela Hijjas, it has also been the residence, for year long periods, for many Malaysian and Australian artists for the past fifteen years.  At present Rimbun Dahn is also home to COFA graduate and painter Monika Behrens, choreographer Angela Goh, writer and poet Mike Ladd and collaborator Cathy Brooks, sculptor Dan Wollmering, painter Dadi Satiyadi and Samsudin Abdul Wahab.
The compound of Rimbun Dahan is 40 minutes outside of the city of Kuala Lumpur and is on land spanning 14 acres. Over the past fifteen years it has developed into a ‘laden bough’ as both a place of cultivation of artistic culture and conservation, being the only garden in Kuala Lumpur completely populated by indigenous species.
This is of particular interest to Haley as her practice deals primarily with the investigation of the relationship between the land, the body, and the representation of both, having recently completed a PhD thesis entitled “Land Incorporated: Moving Through the Landscape”. Employing experimental drawing techniques such as utilising the mediums of incised paper, etched mirror and ‘drawing’ with blades and carving into heavy white paper, Haley creates seemingly delicate artworks that require the viewer to negotiate light and texture. As subjects for her works Haley mainly focuses on landmarks of great cultural value and has shifted her interest from the Australian to the Malaysian landscape.
“When you fly over Kuala Lumpur you see lush green vegetation into the distance as it’s a country with lots of rain fall, but the closer you get, the landscape reveals itself as an expanse of palm oil plantations” explains Haley of her new environment.
Haley chose Ribun Dahan as she thought the residency would be a good opportunity to become familiar with Malaysian culture and contemporary art.                
“Considering Malaysia is such a close neighbour of Australia I think it is important to build bridges between the two places… I see this as a rare opportunity to take a year outside of my ordinary Sydney based practice, experiment with new skills and develop some old ones,” says Haley.                                                                                               
Haley was also very attracted to the idea of a complex for artist, dancers, and choreographers all working closely together with the possibility of future collaborations.
Haley’s year long stay at Rimbun Dahan will culminate in an exhibition that is held annually in the underground gallery and in the gardens, with a selection of works being donated to the permanent collection, which consists of works all by former resident artists and shows the diversity of the Rimbun Dahan residency programme.
When asked about what will come after her stay at Ribun Dahan Haley goes on to say that another residency in Southeast Asia will be looked into, as she would like to further develop her links with the area.

For more information on Rochelle Haley: http://www.rochellehaley.com/
For more information on Rimbun Dahan: http://www.rimbundahan.org/home.html